Check out the Kansas OER YouTube Channel.
Upcoming OER Trainings
OER Disciplinary Roundtable: Fine Arts Courses
Monday March 24, 2025 at 3:30pm Flyer
This webinar is intended for those interested in using Open Educational Resources in Fine Arts courses. These discipline focused, informal, discussion based, virtual sessions are intended for those interested in using Open Educational Resources in their curriculum. In these sessions, panelists will share their OER journeys and participate in a roundtable discussion. Participants are encouraged to share their OER experiences, concerns, successes and questions.
Panelists: Dr. Steven Maxwell, Associate Professor at Kansas State University, Dr. Amy Rosine, Professor at Kansas State University, Carl Sage, Technical Director of Theater at Fort Hays State University
AI and OER Roundtable
Wednesday April 9, 2025 at 10am Flyer
Presenter: Neal Axton, JD, MLIS, Government Information Librarian, University of Kansas
Presentation Title: “Discover How AI-powered Tools Can Improve Faculty Productivity in Scholarship and Teaching.”
Presenter: Bruce Miller, PGDBM/MBA, RCOBE Instructor, Fort Hays State University/Shenyang Normal University (China)
Presentation Title: “Using ChatGPT to Create Your Next Textbook.”
LibreTexts Academy
Ongoing
The LibreTexts Academy: A Center for Open Instructional Innovation and Professional Development (for faculty adapters/creators) https://libretexts.org/academy/libretexts-academy-services
Previous Trainings
General OER Trainings
Getting Started with Open Educational Resources (OER)
The OER or Open Educational Resources movement was developed as a response to rising textbook prices. Using OER materials can help reduce costs and bring new and adaptable resources to the classroom. Want to learn more about how to get started, where to look for materials, and review some OER examples before joining the crowd? This session is for you!
OER 101 for Faculty and Staff Recording
OER & Copyright Workshop
Tuesday, October 8, 2024 10am-11am
This webinar is intended to clarify the relationship between OER and traditional copyright. In this session, you’ll engage with our panelists as they share their OER journeys and participate in a roundtable discussion. Participants are encouraged to share their OER experiences, concerns, successes, and questions.
Presenters: Gwen Sibley, Scholarly Communication and Copyright Librarian, Assistant Professor, Kansas State University Libraries
2023 OER Beyond the Basics: Faculty Workshops
Finding, Evaluating & Adopting OER Thursday, Feb 23, 2023 2:00 pm
Finding the right OER for your courses can be daunting and this workshop will review the best places to begin your search for OER textbooks, assignments, lectures and other materials. We will also cover how to evaluate OER to make sure it's a good fit for your students and institution. Since planning time is precious, participants will be encouraged to practice searching and evaluating during the workshop to make the best use of their time.
Finding Evaluating & Adopting OER Workshop Recording
Adapting OER Tuesday, March 7, 2023 2:00 pm
You picked out an OER or two that you want to use in class. They need some changes or need to be combined. Now what? This workshop will lead you through the following steps to adapting your OERs. We will start by determining the licensing of your OERs and then look at where to edit and provide access to your adapted OER. Finally, we will look at correctly attributing the original OERs and how to create your own Creative Commons license for your new textbook. Throughout the workshop, guiding questions will help you make decisions efficiently and effectively.
Adapting OER Workshop Recording
Presentation Slides & Presentation Sources
Accessibility & OER Thursday, April 6, 2023 2:00 pm
Now that you have found an OER to use in your class and adapted it to your needs, how can you further adapt it to make it accessible for all. This workshop will cover the basics of the why and how of accessibility and universal design. Then, we will dive deeper into enabling user agency to enhance the user experience (UX). Some topics include accessibility tools, scalability, anchored content, and keyboard navigation.
Accessibility & OER Workshop Recording
2022 "Open your mind to OER" summit session recordings
2020 Webinar Topics & Dates
OER Jargon/Free-Digital-Open
September 10, 2020
This presentation identifies the use and difficulty of Open Education jargon for newcomers to the Open Community. Here we will clarify Open Education Resources (OER) terms as well as the difference between free, digital, and open. Live Q & A will be available at the end.
Click Here for Webinar Recording
Click Here for Presentation Slides
Outlining Problems
October 1, 2020
Presenters will discuss the benefits beyond using OER to lessen the student financial burden and demonstrate how content may be manipulated and shared in pedagogically interesting ways that may violate copyright in traditional materials.
Click Here for Webinar Recording
Click Here for Presentation Slides
Creative Commons
October 26, 2020
The "openness" of OER depends upon permissive licensing, most commonly Creative Common (CC) licenses. Join us for an introduction to CC licenses designed to assist educators in recognizing, understanding, complying with, and applying CC licenses in teaching and learning environments.
Click Here for Webinar Recording
Click Here for Presentation Slides
Repositories & Platforms
December 2, 2020
Join us for a tour of selected repositories and platforms, a few search strategies to try when looking for OER, and a couple demonstrations of identifying this information.
Click Here for Webinar Recording
Click Here for Presentation Slides
OER disciplinary Roundtables
These discipline focused, informal, discussion based, virtual sessions are intended for those interested in using Open Educational Resources in their curriculum. In these sessions, panelists will share their OER journeys and participate in a roundtable discussion. Participants are encouraged to share their OER experiences, concerns, successes and questions.
Fine Arts Courses
Monday March 24, 2025 at 3:30pm Flyer
This webinar is intended for those interested in using Open Educational Resources in Fine Arts courses.
Panelists: Dr. Steven Maxwell, Associate Professor at Kansas State University, Dr. Amy Rosine, Professor at Kansas State University, Carl Sage, Technical Director of Theater at Fort Hays State University
Communication Courses
This webinar is intended for those interested in using Open Educational Resources in Communication courses.
Panelists: Ashley Page, Fort Scott Community College Communications Instructor, Tonya Neises, Labette
Community College Communication Professor
Education Courses
Thursday, February 15, 2024
This webinar is intended for those interested in using Open Educational Resources in Education courses.
Panelists: Renee Cason, FHSU Teacher Education Instructor, Kim Sprecht, BCCC, with more to be added.
Language Courses
Thursday, November 30, 2023
This session is intended for those interested in using Open Educational Resources in Language courses.
Panelists: Jonathan Perkins, Director of the KU Open Language Resource Center, Necia Chronister, Coordinator of the KSU German Language Program & Amy Rossomondo, Director of the KU Spanish Language Program
If you are interested in leading a future roundtable or have a subject area you would like to see available, please contact
systemwide transfer course OER recommendations
The recordings and recommendations for high-quality OER aligned with the most commonly taken transfer courses. They highlight strategies for adoption, best practices, and tools to ensure academic rigor, while emphasizing cost savings, accessibility, and equity to enhance student success.
A full list of course recommendations is located here.
College Algebra - February 26, 2024 at 3:30-4pm - Recording
Public Speaking - February 27, 2024 at 11-11:30am - Recording
General Psychology - February 27, 2024 at 2:30-3pm - Recording
English Composition I - February 28, 2024 at 11-11:30am - Recording
Elementary Statistics - February 28, 2024 at 2-2:30pm - Recording
Libretext trainings
LibreTexts Jumpstart
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
This introductory training is designed for KBOR institutions to support educators in discovering, creating, customizing, and sharing open educational resources (OER) in LibreTexts. Through various LibreVerse services, educators can collaborate, curate, and manage textbooks, homework, and assessments.
LibreFest
Monday, October 7, 2024 11am-5pm
October is just around the corner and with it comes the return of LibreTexts' October LibreFest, or OctoberFest. This one day, virtual workshop, will be held on October 7, the day before this year's OpenEd Conference kicks off, from 9-3 PST. OctoberFest is a scaled down version of our annual summer LibreFest workshop and will introduce you to everything Libretexts has to offer, including editing, remixing, and adapting OER. Created by practitioners, for practitioners.
LibreTexts Training: Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Delmar Larsen, founder and executive director of LibreTexts, will provide training on LibreTexts and the associated LibreVerse. LibreTexts is an Open Educational Resource (OER) platform. The Kansas Board of Regents System was the first state system to join the LibreNet, a consortium of members supporting LibreTexts. System members can create, adopt, and adapt OER on the platform and use the associated technology. If you don’t already have an account, it would be good to set one up at https://one.libretexts.org/
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OER & Estimating Student Savings Developed in January 2022, the OER Steering Committee recommendation outlines a formula for estimating savings resulting from OER use in KBOR System institutions. While it's difficult, if not impossible to accurately capture savings due to a variety of factors, the Steering Committee members believe that Kansas System institutions benefit from a common method to estimate savings, when appropriate and possible. This paper outlines our recommendations, sites other research and policies around estimating cost savings, and explains the rationale behind developing this formula. |
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2024 Open Education Initiatives in Kansas Higher Education Report (pdf) January 2021, the OER Steering Committee sent out the first survey to gather information on how Open Education Resources (OER) are currently being implemented across the public higher education institutions in Kansas. The survey has been repeated each spring. |
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The Kansas Board of Regents Open Educational (OER) Steering Committee Action Plan (pdf) was developed as a result of the 2019 student-focused survey conducted by the Kansas Board of Regents Student Advisory Committee and collaborative discussion among members of the OER Steering Committee. The plan explains what OER are as well as the statewide priorities. |
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The Textbook Affordability Survey 2019 Results & Report (pdf) was conducted by the 2018-2019 Student Advisory Committee to provide concrete data behind the burden of textbook costs that students attending our universities are facing. |
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The DOERS3 Promotion and Tenure Matrix offers guidance on documenting OER contributions for recognition in promotion and tenure processes, aiming to support institutions, departments, and individual faculty in integrating open education into their promotion and tenure guidelines. |
Newsletters
KBOR OER systemwide Initiatives
Annual OER Survey
The KBOR OER Steering Committee distributes a survey to all public higher education institutions in Kansas to gather OER implementation progress across the state. The 2021 survey was created to gather baseline information on how Open Educational Resources (OER) are currently being implemented across the various colleges and universities in the state. A full report of the annual survey is located below.
Reports:
2024 KBOR OER Survey Full Report
2023 KBOR OER Survey Full Report
2022 KBOR OER Survey Full Report
2021 KBOR OER Survey Full Report
Additional Resources:
KBOR OER Survey Instrument
2024 Open Educational Resources Annual Report Presentation
Kansas Libretexts Commons
LibreTexts Commons, a key platform used by many Kansas institutions, provides an extensive library of open educational resources designed to enhance teaching and learning. Check out the Kansas LibreTexts Commons page.
What is OER?
Open educational resources (OER) “are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.”1 OER includes built in permission to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute the material.
In an effort to exhibit the need for OER at institutions across the state of Kansas, the Kansas Board of Regents Student Advisory Committee conducted a survey in 2019 to demonstrate the burden of textbook costs on students at Regent Institutions. They found that 48 percent of 6,474 regent institutions’ students indicated they did not purchase or rent a required textbook in the spring semester. Seventeen percent said they did not purchase or rent three or more required textbooks.2 By not purchasing textbooks, students could be at a disadvantage, which could hinder their success in a course. With open/alternative educational resources, all students get equal and immediate access to educational materials.3
Why OER?
Hear Fort Hays State University Student Body President, Mark Faber give an address to the 2022 Kansas OER Summit attendees about how OER impacts students. Click here to listen to his speech.
Statewide Open Up Learning Kansas Steering Committee
To encourage OER adoption across Kansas public institutions, the Open Up Learning Kansas Steering Committee was established. This committee brings together representatives from diverse Kansas public institutions who are committed to integrating OER into their campus offerings. The group convenes once a month to discuss statewide initiatives, including collaborative events, grant applications, system participation in regional and national OER organizations, OER platforms, and best practices. If your institution does not have a representative on the OER Steering Committee and you would like to add someone, email Mistie Knox,
Mission
Our mission is to increase access in education by scaling the awareness and support of open education, including open educational resources and associated practices and pedagogies across the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) system.
Vision
Our vision is to improve student outcomes and access by increasing the thoughtful integration of high quality, open educational resources into teaching and learning across the Kansas Board of Regents system.
2024-25 Members of the Open Up Learning Kansas Steering Committee:
| Universities | Name | Title | ||
| Emporia State University | Melissa Emo | Digital Scholarship & OER Librarian | ||
| Fort Hays State University | Claire Nickerson | Learning Technologies & OER Librarian | ||
| Kansas State University | Colby Moorberg | Professor | ||
| Pittsburg State University | Madison Price | Digital Archivist & IR Manager | ||
| University of Kansas | Heather Mac Bean | Open Education Librarian | 24-25 Co-chair | |
| University of Kansas Medical Center | Kristin Sederstrom | Electronic Resources Librarian | ||
| Wichita State University | Doug English | Associate Professor & Chair, Dept. of Chemistry | ||
| Washburn University | Scott Brackey | Instructional Librarian | ||
| Community Colleges | Name | Title | ||
| Allen Community College | Austin Hendrix | Bookstore Manager | ||
| Barton Community College | Lee Miller | Director of Innovation & Compliance for the Center for Academic Innovation & Excellence | ||
| Butler Community College | Mindy Trenary | Assistant Professor of English | ||
| Cloud County Community College | Brandon Galm | Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs | ||
| Cowley Community College | David Hays | Faculty, Computer Science & Math | ||
| Dodge City Community College | Holly Mercer | Director of Library | ||
| Fort Scott Community College | Susie Arvidson | Director of Library Services | ||
| Garden City Community College | Veronica Goosey | Assistant Professor of English | 24-25 Co-chair | |
| Highland Community College | Hannah Owen | Instructional Support & Design | ||
| Highland Community College | Cindy Davis | Director of the Library | ||
| Hutchinson Community College | Emily Hemmerling | Coordinator of Library Services | ||
| Independence Community College | Nathan Chaplin | Biology Professor | ||
| Johnson County Community College | Barry Bailey | Digital Projects Librarian and Chair of OER Taskforce | ||
| Johnson County Community College | Danielle Theiss | Assistant Professor/Collection Development Librarian | ||
| Kansas City Kansas Community College | Susan Stuart | Director of Online Education | ||
| Labette Community College | Tim Miller | Professor of History | ||
| Pratt Community College | Frank Stahl | Director, Learning Resource Center | ||
| Seward County Community College | Deedee Flax | Director of Distance Learning | ||
| Technical Colleges | Name | Title | ||
| Flint Hills Technical College | Liberty Worthen | Librarian | ||
| Manhattan Area Technical College | Darren Ortega | Teaching & Learning Resource Coordinator | ||
| WSU Campus of Applied Sciences & Technology | Rob Gibson | Dean, ITAS & Director, Instructional Design |
System Memberships & Partnerships
Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC)
The Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) has promoted and facilitated the implementation of Open Educational Resources (OER) at a regional level since 2018 when twelve OER state action teams were created. From these initiatives, the Kansas OER Steering Committee began, and they continue to support our work through grant funding, research, regional raining and sponsorship of our Kansas OER Summit.
Open Education Network (OEN)
In 2020, the Kansas Board of Regents joined the Open Education Network (OEN) as a consortial member.
A diverse community of higher education institutions, the Open Education Network promotes access, affordability, and student success through the use of open textbooks.
Driving OER Sustainability for Student Success (DOERS3)
The Kansas Board of Regents is part of the Driving OER Sustainability for Student Success (DOERS3) Collaborative. Open to public higher education systems and statewide/provincewide organizations, DOERS3 and its members support large-scale OER initiatives and are committed to advancing innovation in OER. Member organizations aim to achieve equity and student success at scale by realizing the promise of high-quality, accessible, and sustainable OER implementations.
References
1 Kansas Board of Regents Student Advisory Committee Textbook Affordability Survey: 2019 Results & Report
2 UNESCO
3 https://opencontent.org/definition/
OER logo credit: Barton Community College
Consider a Community or Technical College
If you need an alternative option beyond direct admission into a Kansas public university, consider starting your post-secondary education at a Kansas community or technical college. These institutions have open admission, and success at one of these 26 institutions can lead to future admittance into a Kansas public university.
Those who earn at least 24 credits and maintain a GPA of 2.0 or higher at a community college or technical college may reapply to a Kansas public university for further consideration as a transfer student at Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, The University of Kansas (2.5 GPA required), or Wichita State University
Enroll in Systemwide Transfer Courses
If you choose to begin your post-secondary education at a community college or technical college, consider taking courses approved for Systemwide Transfer. You may view these courses within the Transfer Kansas portal.
A student who successfully completes any of these courses at a Kansas public university, community college, or technical college will be able to transfer the course to any Kansas public postsecondary institution offering an equivalent course.
Explore Your Options
Use the map and list of institutions to choose a college that best meets your needs and goals!
| Allen County Community College | Iola, KS 66749 | 620-901-6268 |
| Barton County Community College | Great Bend, KS 67530 | 620-792-9286 |
| Butler Community College | El Dorado, KS 67042 | 316-733-3255 |
| Cloud County Community College | Concordia, KS 66901 | 785-243-1435, ext. 212 |
| Coffeyville Community College | Coffeyville, KS 67337 | 620-252-7026, ext. 7100 |
| Colby Community College | Colby, KS 67701 | 785-460-4690 |
| Cowley Community College | Arkansas City, KS 67005 | 620-441-6335 |
| Dodge City Community College |
Dodge City, KS 67801 | 620-225-1321 |
| Flint Hills Technical College | Emporia, KS 66801 | 620-343-4600 |
| Fort Scott Community College | Fort Scott, KS 66701 | 620-223-2700 |
| Garden City Community College | Garden City, KS 67846 | 620-276-7611 |
| Highland Community College | Highland, KS 66035 | 785-442-6000 |
| Hutchinson Community College | Hutchinson, KS 67501 | 620-665-3535 |
| Independence Community College | Independence, KS 67301 | 620-331-4100 |
| Johnson County Community College | Overland Park, KS 66210 | 913-469-3803 |
| Kansas City Kansas Community College | Kansas City, KS 66112 | 913-288-7600 |
| Labette Community College | Parsons, KS 67357 | 785-587-2800 |
| Manhattan Area Technical College | Manhattan, KS 66503 | 620-276-7611 |
| Neosho County Community College | Chanute, KS 66720 | 620-432-0376 |
| North Central Kansas Technical College | Beloit, KS 67420 | 785-738-2276 |
| Northwest Kansas Technical College | Goodland, KS 67735 | 800-316-4127, ext. 515 |
| Pratt Community College | Pratt, KS 67124 | 620-450-2217 |
| Salina Area Technical College | Salina, KS 67401 | 785-309-3100 |
| Seward County Community College | Liberal, KS 67905 | 620-417-1100 |
| Washburn University Institute of Technology | Topeka, KS 66621 | 785-670-2200 |
| Wichita State University Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology | Wichita, KS 67226 | 316-677-9400 |
